Winemaker Notes
Deep garnet in color. Perfumed aromas of musk, blackberry, dried herbs and clove supported by underlying notes of wood smoke. The palate is loaded with generous fruit, spice and balanced by fine savory tannins on the finish.
This wine is ideally served at room temperature and goes well with game dishes, and hearty lamb and beef.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Dark chocolate, mulberries and savory spice all come together on the nose of the 2015 Hillside Shiraz. It's a dense, concentrated wine, richly structured and tannic but not unapproachable with a rare hunk of beef or lamb. The Kay Brothers wines make no concessions to modernity, sticking to the tried and true methods of crafting traditional, cellar-worthy Shiraz.
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Wine & Spirits
This is a blend from two blocks at Amery, one exposed at the top of the hill where the vines grow in sandy loam over limestone and sandstone, the other farther down the hill at New Block 6, where there’s more clay and ironstone, the vines propagated from cuttings of the original shiraz planting from 1891 (those original vines still produce the Block 6 Shiraz). It’s a power-packed shiraz, both in its warm, savory plum fruit and its brisk tannins, yielding the rustic feel of iron filings. There’s cool generosity running underneath it all, an impressive shiraz to decant for braised lamb’s neck or oxtail.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is upfront in aromas of ripe plums and bramble berries, along with coffee and dark chocolate tones. The fruitiness continues through to the palate but the tightly wound tannins take over, along with a good lick of acidity, making for an austere feel at the moment. This is a solid wine built for cellaring. Drink 2022–2028
Cellar Selection
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.